On the last day of the legislative session, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court has thrown out recall petitions filed against two DFL House members over their support for legalizing gay marriage.

Chief Justice Lorie Gildea on Monday, May 20, dismissed the proposed petitions against Reps. Joe Radinovich of Crosby and John Ward of Baxter "for failure to allege specific facts that, if proven, would constitute grounds for recall."

Minnesota law sets a high bar for recalling elected officials.

In this case, the proposed petitions were filed against Ward and Radinovich, who come from districts 10a and 10b, respectively, in Crow Wing County in central Minnesota, on the basis that their votes in favor of gay marriage went against the will of their constituents.

A majority of voters in the two districts supported the proposed constitutional amendment last November that would have limited marriage to heterosexual couples to the state constitution. Statewide, the amendment did not pass.

The petitions were filed by Doug Kern, deputy chair of the Crow Wing County Republican Party, but the party itself was not involved, said chairman Josh Heintzeman.

"Constituent disagreement with how their elected representative exercised discretion, through public statements made or votes taken, does not equate to malfeasance by the representative," Gildea wrote. "As the supreme court has recognized, the remedy for constituents who disagree with an elected representative's positions or voting record is not in the recall procedures.